Manual Testing is NOT dead, but Manual Testers are!

Recently a lot has been written & talked about the future of Manual Testing. Manual Testing is indispensable part of ensuring a high quality software. On the other hand, Automation Tests help you cut down the release cycle time. But usability & human behavior cannot be automated. With reduced time-to-market there is an added pressure on enterprises to seek automation alternatives. With the rise & growth of new technologies, people are more interested in scripting. But Manual Testingis the input to Automation scripts. Unless AI technology matches a human brain, Manual tests are best kept ‘manual’. You cannot automate everything. Cut the crap! Whatever be the debate but still Manual testers are finding it hard to stay relevant in today’s job market. Why?

Manual Testing vs. Manual Testers

Manual Testing & Manual Testers are two separate entities. The growing debate is more about the future of Manual testing than Manual testers. Manual Testing is a technology, a technique and a method to ensure software quality whereas Manual Testers are the actual human beings designing & executing manual tests. I agree with the fact that – ‘Manual Testing is NOT dead’, and it never will. But what about Manual Testers? I know it might sound strange at first 😉 but if you think it through – it’s a valid argument.

The new approach to House-keeping

Let’s suppose you hire a ‘helper’ for your day-to-day household tasks. I am sure you have since nobody has the time for dish washing & house-keeping. The privileged ones even have a driver & a cook. Say we IT professionals are the privileged ones 😉 so we have four helpers in total to look after our house & needs. Say we pay $400/week to each, totaling to $1600/week. Now let’s move to a different part of the world where an IT professional has hired a butler or a full-time helper to look after everything, i.e. dishes, house-keeping, cooking and driving. Let’s assume he/she charges $1500/week. Now what would you say? Is house-keeping dead? Or we are not cooking anymore? Or everybody is cycling? Nah! The work is still the same, just that the management is changed. Hope you got my point?

Manual Testing is NOT dead

Manual Testing as a technology will take some (a lot) time to be fully replaced by automation. Your automation scripts cannot ‘explore’ the software, right? Scripts don’t have a brain. Scripts cannot think. Scripts just do what is programmed. But your end-users are not programmed. They are living human-beings who can think and act depending on the circumstances. They might read this complete article, or stop in between & switch to some other website and then come back. They are unpredictable. In that sense, Yes, Automation can never replace Manual Tests (until the time AI reaches that pinnacle).

“As an industry we need to push testers back towards performing manual exploratory testing, to be complemented by automated regression testing, otherwise we are going to start missing defects due to deficiencies in the overall coverage.”

Not everyone can be a James Bach

Now that we are clear about the Manual Testing technology, let’s talk about Manual Testers. In earlier landscape, organizations used to hire different resources for Manual and Automation testing. Some still do – but if you are James Bach! Let’s face the reality, not everyone can be a James Bach (though nobody is stopping you). With people from all streams entering the Testing arena (thinking that it doesn’t require coding) we have a situation here. The supply has gone surplus. Now how to filter the best? Or even the average? Additionally enterprises have the pressure of maintaining the balance between the costs and the quality. How? Hire a Butler (a full-time help). Yes, organizations have now moved to the other world where they want people to first test manually and then same people to automate it. The world is moving fast where we no longer need a separate cook and house-keeper.

Master and Market | Skill Up

Having said that, I don’t think the transition will be sudden. But it has started. Though you can expect some relief in case you are an expert cook or a professional driver. Not every butler can cook well, a master chef will still be in demand. But beware, a master! If you want to stick to Manual testing technology, make sure to excel at it. Additionally just being excellent won’t do any good, you have to market your value. Why do you think a cook featured in ‘Master Chef’ makes more money? Unless enterprises or organizations identify you as a superb Manual Tester, the best bet is to learn automation alongside. The writing is clear on the wall – either be the best & well-known OR start learning other skills.

Related Articles

Software testing, though complex, is an integral part of any successful software project. On a high level there are basically two methods to complete the software verification & validation – Manual and Automated testing. While both types of testing are beneficial to web application development, there has been a plethora of speculation on whether software testing should be done manually or be automated. Creation of excellent software demands effective and timely quality testing; and in these times of production on the go, the debate continues on the purpose and efficiency of manual vs. automation testing. Each testing method has its pros and cons but the truth is that regardless of which side of the fence you sit on (manual vs. automated), the argument is largely irrelevant; to achieve high quality software and reduced time to market both methodologies are essential. Let’s explore the 19 key consideration…

I have a strong functional test experience but no automation. I ‘know’ automation testing but don’t have the project experience. I am a Test lead but didn’t write any automation scripts. Analytical & logical but never did project coding. Found in-numerous bugs but didn’t prepare automation reports. Managed a big team but didn’t learn performance testing. Documented every report but didn’t produce framework guides. Enjoyed exploratory tests but didn’t script pre-defined test cases. Helped BAs and even developers (in debugging) but never developed automation framework. Understood domain & application flows but didn’t write code. Open to learning but no opportunity. Self-learned programming & tools, but didn’t get practical project experience. Passionate about Software testing but now it’s Software Developer in Test.

Most of the QA professionals are among the smartest people on this earth who often boast advanced degrees in engineering, mathematics or computer science. In some ways, we are like Superheroes – capable of breaking down a whole application and defeating an army of programmers with our defects, testing complex functions, juggling numerous technologies, ensuring customer ideas morphed into working software, all the while not breaking a sweat. So how is it that despite such technical savvy, programming prowess and quality driven attitude, we are defeated at test estimation front?

Are you a Manual Tester? A Test Lead? Good in people’s management? Or Planning? Whatever! You still need to know the basics of programming and automation tool. You need not be a framework-developer, but every organization now wants a Software Tester who knows both functional test + automation scripting!

The Defect Severity (Technical) - In simple words, how severe is the defect for the application’s quality? Say you click on the ‘Help’ link and the application crashes. Whoaa! Bing-Bang Craaaashh..! Quite a severe defect, right?

The Defect Priority (Business) - In simple words, what is the precedence, importance or urgency to fix a defect? Say you click on the ‘Help’ link and the application crashes. Whoaa! Bing-Bang Craaaashh..! Quite a severe defect, right? But how many of us really click the ‘Help’ link? Business usage statistics show less than 2%. Now what do you think should be the urgency to fix a defect that impacts just the 2% of the end-users? Yeah! Not ‘High’ obviously. There would be other urgent defects to fix prior to this. Defect Priority defines the order in which defects should be fixed, i.e. its impact to the end-users, the business perspective.

About STS

Software Testing Studio is an attempt to share some incredible knowledge from industry leaders & experts, which should be helpful for anybody to start his/her career in ‘Software Testing’ or to progress it further. Apart from the technical nitty-gritties, one can also find some intellectual posts by industry experts sharing their Wisdom.